“I wasn’t going to let him tell me no,” Danielle Moberg said
- After a 22-year-old college student received her diploma from the University of Central Florida, she had surgery so she could give her dad her kidney
- He had been navigating kidney disease for four years and needed a transplant
- “It’s hard to put words to it, and it saved my life,” the grateful dad said
Weeks after a 22-year-old woman graduated college, she booked a surgery so she could give her ailing dad her kidney.
Danielle Moberg just received her degree in psychology from the University of Central Florida when she underwent surgery at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Fla., in May to help her dad, Daniel, according to a statement shared by the hospital and FOX affiliate WSVN. He had been navigating kidney disease for four years and needed a transplant.
“I was on dialysis. I had a tube in my stomach,” Daniel told the outlet. “It was a matter of, you do dialysis or die when I was in the hospital.”
The hospital and Moberg family did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
His daughter, Abby, helped care for him every day during his at-home dialysis treatment, according to the hosptial. She hooked him up each evening and disconnected him from the machine at 6:30 the next morning, according to the hospital. His other daughter, Danielle, also insisted on helping.
“When I found out he was sick, I was very sad,” she said, the hospital added. “He’s my dad. He’s done everything for me. It was a way to show my gratitude and get more time with him. I was so happy to do it.”
After Danielle learned she was a match, she offered her dad her kidney.
“I wasn’t going to let him tell me no,” she told WSVN.
While Daniel was hesitant to accept her generous offer at first, he finally relented. Last month, the pair went through a successful surgery, according to the hospital.
“It’s hard to put words to it, and it saved my life. I don’t have dialysis anymore, I’m not bound by it. It’s going to be a normal life,” Daniel told WSVN.
Danielle wanted to do everything she could so he could live a full life. “I thought about every holiday — his birthday, Christmas — just getting more time with him,” she told the outlet. She said that her dad’s improved health has given even more weight to Father’s Day this year.
“We’ll be more appreciative of the time that we have together,” Danielle told WSVN, “and just the relationship that we have.”
